The Fourth Step
by HatOfNiceness
Summary: It was a long time coming for them to get to this point, but Otonashi and Kanade don't regret a second of it.


AN: So it appears that what I'm doing with the two-thirds of a month of my summer break is writing pretentious pornography. I am surprisingly okay with that.

I screwed with the timeline and dynamics of the Angel Beats! world a bit to get this to work, and the ending is kinda crap, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. So.. Enjoy!

Otonashi and Kanade's relationship had followed a long, winding road to where they were now. The first step was admitting they were attracted to each other- admitting they enjoyed each other's company, that they highly valued each other's friendship, and finally, that they liked each other in a way that was more than friends.

The second step was making it work. Otonashi was worried at first that his fellow SSS brigade members would make him into a pariah for falling in love with the girl who had previously been their number one target. He had been equally worried that due to the fact that Kanade had spent the good part of… At least a year being constantly shot at and otherwise assaulted by his friends that she would feel bitter towards them, and try to lead him away from them. To his infinite relief, neither things happened. Having realized the truth about who Kanade was, the brigade had backed off, and Kanade, never one to hold a grudge, immediately accepted the many apologies they offered. No one was upset when Otonashi announced their relationship. In fact, as soon as they knew about it, the other brigade members tried to encourage it as much as possible.

After about the fifteenth time he and Kanade had been locked in a janitor's closet by the tag team of Ooyama and Fujimaki, Otonashi put his foot down. He explained to the entire brigade, as calmly as he could, that the relationship he and Kanade were in was not that kind yet.

(At that moment, Hinata leaned over to Yurripe, and whispered

"Two curry tickets says that when they are there won't be enough closets in the school to lock them in."

"You're on.")

It was true that the physical aspect of their relationship was developing slowly. At first, the only sign that Otonashi and Kanade were in love was that they began to spend more time together. They didn't even talk a lot during that time- they just sat in the same room, mostly, and enjoyed each other's company. Slowly, the space between them started closing, and when they were together, they could eventually be seen sitting in each other's arms. Their first kiss didn't happen until they had been together for three months.

(They parted lips. Kanade was uncharacteristically wide eyed, and there was a light flush on her cheeks. It had been her first kiss with anyone. There was an uncomfortable silence.

".. Kanade?"

"If you would like to do that again, sometime.. I would not object.")

Kisses came more frequently after that. Mostly just chaste, as Otonashi was very frankly afraid to make any move on the small, delicate seeming girl. After a deeper and profoundly awkward kiss, Kanade called him out on it.

".. Well, it's not that I don't like you enough to go further, it's just…" At a loss for words, he gestured to all of her. "I don't.. I.. You.."

"You don't think you have your urges under control. You think that because you're larger than me, you could easily take advantage of me if you wanted to." It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.

"Well.. Yes." Kanade stared at him, her emotionless golden eyes boring into his bright orange ones.

"Otonashi, the first time you ever spoke to me, I stabbed you through the chest. The fastest of your friends, much faster than you, can only match my speed in combat, not outstrip it. The strongest of your friends, who is also stronger than you, cannot hold me against my will for more than a minute. I would have an easier time raping you if I wished." Otonashi considered this for a moment.

"Oh." He said. There really was nothing else to say.

"Don't worry about making advances. If I am uncomfortable with them, you will be able to stop, I guarantee it."

After that, their relationship moved slightly faster. Kanade, as it turned out, was surprisingly willing to be more physical with Otonashi if he wanted it, and even made some advances herself after Otonashi confessed about his hesitance. Their relationship became more intimate, and the reason it moved slowly was because they both wanted it to move slowly. In a universe in which love had previously been taboo, they loved each other fully and completely.

The first step was bonding emotionally. The second step was dealing with the others. The third step was becoming comfortable with each other physically. And after more than a year and a half, they finally decided in their peculiar, nonverbal way, that it was the right night for the fourth step.

"Close your eyes," Kanade said quietly. Otonashi did so, and presently, he felt a pair of thin but steady arms wrap around his middle. Kanade whispered something he couldn't quite catch, and he heard a tinkling noise, then a quiet, repeated _foof_ sound. A second later, the steady arms that held him were the only support he had as the ground dropped out from underneath him. After about a minute, Kanade spoke again.

"You can open them now." He obeyed, and when he got adjusted to the light again, he gasped.

They were flying, flying high in the sky, near the clouds, in a place where there should logically be no oxygen, but when had the afterlife ever followed logic?

The school, the field, the river, the forest, it was all beneath him, so far beneath him that Otonashi felt like a giant, walking along the curvature of the earth. Beyond the forests there were mountains covered in mist, that he had never seen before. It had never struck him until that very moment how immense a place the afterlife was, how much care God-if he was the one who created it- had put into making it beautiful for the poor souls who came there.

He could see the NPCs on the field, practicing track in the gradually fading golden-orange sunset. They looked tiny, oh-so-tiny, that for a moment, Otonashi thought himself the god, instead of one of them- or, as it was, almost one of them.

And then, when he turned around, there was Kanade. Massive, beautiful, crystalline white wings were sprouting from her back, beating in a regular rhythm to keep them both afloat. Her hair was flowing around her, as if the effects of gravity were nonexistent for her, and she looked.. She looked like an angel. A title which she had never wanted, which had been thrust upon her, suddenly fit her perfectly. She was the most beautiful Otonashi had ever seen her.

"You can't fall here. I've programmed it." Kanade said, and let go of him, so that he floated only inches away from her. Despite the apparent lack of gravity, she kept her wings out, beating them steadily.

He leaned forwards, and kissed Kanade on the lips. She kissed back, then pulled away. Slowly, they both undressed, alternating peeling away clothing and kissing, the kisses growing deeper and longer with each garment removed. Two school uniforms, two pairs of shoes, socks, tights, an AAA cup bra, boxers, and beige silk panties went fluttering down to earth, to be collected later, or possibly not at all.

Kanade was still a virgin. Otonashi wasn't, and yet he was the one with a heavy blush on his face when Kanade's hands moved down to his groin. She stroked him a few times, but without lubricant, it was difficult and uncomfortable.

"You, ah.. You need to slick it up a little." Otonashi murmured, wincing slightly. Kanade nodded, and lowered herself a little, putting her mouth to the head of his cock. She went up and down a few times, taking only a few inches of Otonashi's shaft into her mouth, then moving down from there with her hands. The combination of saliva and precome served as ample lubricant for her to stroke him to full hardness.

Kanade laid down on thin air, still beating her wings, her naked body illuminated by the sunset, which was gradually fading from fiery golden to a more muted reddish-pink. Otonashi approached her, positioning himself between her legs. Before he did anything, Kanade reached an arm out towards him. There was something grasped in her fingers. When Otonashi took it, he recognized the shiny foil wrapping of a condom.

"Where did you get this?" He asked. Kanade didn't answer, shrugging slightly. It didn't matter, honestly. Otonashi wasn't sure if pregnancy in the afterlife was a risk, but now that he had the means to avoid it if it was, he didn't want to take the chance. The gold foil crinkled as he unwrapped it, and slid it onto his erect cock without difficulty.

Otonashi then leaned forwards, inserting a finger into Kanade. She flinched slightly, growing rigid at his touch, then relaxed. He teased her, feeling her grow slicker as he added another finger, stretching her hole ever so slightly. Foreplay, he had learned the first time he had sex and had almost gotten both his and the girl he was with's skin ripped off, was important.

When he deemed her adequately prepared, Otonashi inched forwards, lining his cock up with her entrance. Even though he was only averaged sized, about six and three quarter's inches long, he was well aware that on her first time, that might be a little too much for Kanade. He resolved to himself to only enter her partially, and only go farther if Kanade wanted more.

He positioned the head of his cock directly between Kanade's legs, then pushed. It slipped slightly, and for a moment, Otonashi was worried that he might miss entirely and make a fool out of himself, but then it slid in, and he was overcome by a wonderful feeling of warmth and tightness.

Kanade's usual stoicness had dropped a little. Her eyes were tightly squeezed shut, her mouth was open and gasping slightly, and her hands were clenched into fists. She looked like she was in pain, but after a moment, she said one thing;

"Move." Otonashi nodded, smiling faintly, and began to push himself in and out. He didn't go very slowly, as he had found that it could be just as uncomfortable as going fast in some occasions, but instead set a moderate pace, in time to the beating of Kanade's wings. As he went, groans started to escape his lips, quietly at first, and then louder.

He leaned forwards, over Kanade, and kissed her, continuing to fuck her with shallow thrusts. Kanade's face was turning almost as red as Otonashi's, and when he pulled away from the kiss, she was gasping. It occurred to him that she must have been extremely sensitive, because there was no possible way he was this good at sex. He tried going slightly deeper, and as he did, Kanade started to moan loudly, twisting from side to side with each thrust, pushing herself farther onto his cock. Otonashi didn't let her get any farther, but he did pick up the pace of his thrusts, moaning along with Kanade as he did so.

"Aaah-!" After about seven minutes of the increased pace, Kanade's moaning was cut off by a sharp intake of breath, and she opened her mouth wide, though no noise came out. She grew tighter and slicker around Otonashi, and thrashed from side to side, her golden eyes popping open as she orgasmed. And although he tried his best, Otonashi couldn't prevent himself from doing the same. He let out one last, loud, groan, and he came as well.

They both were still for a moment, gasping and sweating, riding out the waves of orgasmic bliss. Otonashi's now flaccid cock slipped out of Kanade, the condom on the end filled up like a tiny balloon.

When he regained his breath Otonashi glanced up at Kanade, who was staring at him intensely.

"So, uh.. How did you like it?"

In response, she held up several more shiny foil squares.

Yuri knew something was up when both Otonashi and Kanade showed up to breakfast tired and disheveled. Otonashi having a bad night of sleep, she could buy. He goofed around with Hinata during the night hours sometimes, and stayed up way past midnight. Kanade not getting a good night's sleep was complete and utter bullcrap. You could get someone in her room with a guitar and a high-powered amp playing the bridge from "Ina Gadda Da Vida" and if she was sleeping, she would not so much as twitch.

She confronted Otonashi about it after breakfast.

"I know you and Kanade were doing something together last night. What was it?"

Otonashi gave her a tired smile.

"We reached the fourth step," he said. "We consummated it."


End file.
